Sir Alex Ferguson hailed Barcelona as the strongest team he has confronted as a manager after the Catalans claimed their fourth European Cup at Manchester United's expense, although this chastening experience has not dented the Scot's enthusiasm to attempt to overhaul "the best team in Europe".

The Premier League champions suffered a sobering defeat here, the scoreline deceptive, with their manager conceding his own team had been outclassed by a rampant Barça. "They do mesmerise you with the way they pass it," Ferguson said . "I expected us to do better, particularly after half-time, but it wasn't to be. Great teams do go in cycles and they're at the peak of the cycle they're in at the moment.

"They're the best in Europe, no question about that. In my time as a manager, I would say they're the best team we've faced. Everyone acknowledges that and I accept that. It's not easy when you've been well beaten like that to think another way. No one has given us a hiding like that. It's a great moment for them. They deserve it because they play the right way and enjoy their football.

"But how long it lasts ... whether they can replace that team at some point ... they certainly have the right philosophy, but it's always difficult to find players like Xavi [Hernández], [Andrés] Iniesta and [Lionel] Messi all the time. But they're enjoying the moment that they have just now. We never controlled Lionel Messi, but many people have had to say that over the years."

Xavi and Messi, in particular, revelled here, with Pep Guardiola thrilled by the Argentinian's contribution, which included his first goal in England. "Lionel is the best player I have ever seen, probably the best player I will see," the Barça coach said. "He is unique, a one-off. But this was a better performance than the one we put in to beat United in Rome [2-0 in 2009]. In Italy, we played a 'good' game. Tonight, it was the way in which we won that made me most proud. That is the way we want to play football."

Ferguson, even at 69, insisted he retained the enthusiasm and energy to regain the European Cup and was relishing the task ahead. "The challenge is always to improve yourselves," he said. "Over the years, we've done OK when confronted by things like this, and taking [Barcelona] on is another challenge. We've some very good players and, of course, where we start to find a way forward is something we'll mull over the summer. We're not lacking in ideas . Hopefully we'll come up with the right ones.

"You shouldn't be afraid of a challenge. We want to improve. Of course, next season, we must improve even more. But we have a challenge with Barcelona. We all do. It's no consolation being the second-best team. I don't enjoy being second-best. Any club with the history we have – Real Madrid, Milan – they'd say the same."

The Scot offered his opposite number a warning that he should not be hasty in his desire to move on for his own fresh challenge – "If he's really considering that, he'll never have this experience again, that's for sure" – although the Barcelona manager was insistent that he intends to see out another season at the Camp Nou before considering his options. "That is my intention," he said. "My future, when I leave here, will be very tough because I will wonder where players like these Barcelona players are, and if I will have problems finding them. But I want to continue for one more year."

Saying Nani is inconsistent is retarded. How is having 18 assists and 9 goals in a single season inconsistent from a midfielder. You guys are just trying to find reasons to make fergie sound like he did the right thing. If you average that to 27 direct influences on goals out of the 2660 minutes he played that comes to 98 min per assist or goal.

it just burns my heart that we lost and against barca.yes i accept that they are the best team even before we met yesterday but c'mon we will be back.manchester could have done better ever since valencia was struggling should have taken him off the 60 min so as giggs.scholes should have played the hole game.these are all things that would have given us a better chance but still proud we made it this far

congrats to barca, and good job to united on reaching the final and playing their heart out (couldn't have been any other two teams, definitely the best club teams in the world at this point in time), but i'm confused as to what liverpool placing 6th with 55 points has to do with this article...?

Berbatov was definitely out of form just as Puyol was despite being the captain of the team. That's why neither of them started. Ferguson just couldn't risk playing Berbatov in such an important game after a long streak of disappointing performances in the EPL at the end of the season.

i wouldn't say Berbatov have a disappointing performance, he's just not given enough chances, the reason is the 'love' of SAF for Rooney, Berbatov hasn't played for so long but yet he is the top scorer in EPL, the reason why he's not productive lately is because he didn't have enough playing time, thus decreasing his form. just imagine if he is given more playing time, he could be equaling Ronaldo's stats in La Liga for goodness sake.

Nani and Berbatov combined accounted for 30 goals and 22 assists. Did Furgeson really think that was his best squad? Berb could have held the ball up and nani could have hit them on the break. I was really disappointed.

Actually Codballz if you've been following United all season you would know that's usually Fergie's standard line up against the elite teams, he used that line up against Chelsea in both the Champions League and the Premier League game which essentially decided the title after United beat Chelsea.

Problem with Nani and Berba is their consistency, they have a tendency to either play really well or go completely missing in the game, so Fergie didn't want to risk it. Also why do we put so much emphasis on stats? players like Xavi and Iniesta can't match Messi's stats, but both are easily the top midfielders in the world.